The Boonville City Council will move forward with a proposal for a new park dedicated to cancer survivors and victims. The decision was unanimous at the Tuesday evening meeting. Charlie Melkersman of the Cooper County Relay for Life presented the city council with a proposal for the park, which upon their approval would be constructed somewhere within the City. Melkersman said the Cooper County organization would fund the project. He also said discussions had already begun with City officials on proposed locations, including the Kemper Military School Campus and the Stein House lot.

Melkersman said the park may be something special for the entire area, maybe even for the entire region.

Ward Three Councilman Hayes Murray suggested a location near Lookout Point overlooking the river. He said it could also be more inspirational with a good view. Mayor Julie Thacher said putting the park at Kemper may not be the best idea, particularly because of future development of the site. She said if everything goes as planned, new buildings may be constructed on campus to accommodate the growing development.

The council decided to send the idea to the Parks Committee for review.

Scott Vogler, of MECO Engineering gave a presentation on the storm water management in the city. He explained the reasons for an effective system and pointed out what different businesses were doing to sustain runoff during storms. There are many types of systems, one being a dry basin, which collects the water and a retention center, which collects water. The problem, he said, was not the systems in general but the lack of maintenance. For example, he said, silt and debris gather in internal run off storage containers. He said doing regular cleaning would make the system work much better. While Vogler was just giving facts on the systems, Murray asked wether it would be prudent to start addressing the issues in requiring businesses to do regular maintenance on systems that deal with storm water. Vogler said this may be needed to address these issues.

In further news, Boonville City Parks Director Gary Nauman, gave a report on conditions of many trees throughout the town. Nauman said some trees along Main Street may have to be removed because of poor conditions. These trees, he said, have outgrown their container and may soon die. After removing the poor conditioned trees, Nauman plans to landscape the containers with native plants and annuals. Bike racks will also be placed around town, along with replacing the newly re-finished benches at street corners.